Guidelines to Improve Exchange Programmes. a Case Study in the Technical Architecture Degree at the Universitat Jaume i (Spain)

Abstract

Future professionals should be prepared for a globalised world. In this context, universities worldwide offer students several exchange programmes, which allow them to enrich their education, beyond academic contents, and to include a differentiator element in their curricula. This paper analyses the exchange programmes in the Technical Architecture Degree (TAD), from 2005, when this degree started at the Universitat Jaume I (Castellon, Spain) to the present-day. The main aim is to perform an in-depth analysis of the programmes to establish future guidelines in order to improve them. To do this, the programmes offered in the degree are firstly described: Universities where bilateral agreements are run with TAD; the people involved in performing the programmes; quantitative data of the attendance and exchanges carried out to date. Secondly, a survey of the strong and weak points of the exchange programmes is presented by means of a questionnaire, which was completed by the students taking part in the exchanges. Finally, a layout of the future lines to be undertaken is outlined.